Document retention articles

Document Retention Services

Advice to corporate clients - Document Retention - Litigation Readiness - Liaison with lawyers and the courts

Advice to corporate clients on how to minimise risk and maximise efficiency in preparing for actual or potential litigation and for anticipation of regulatory investigations.

The Disclosure of documents by lawyers in litigation is just the tail end of a process of document management which originates in the litigants' systems. My experience at the receiving end of this - helping lawyers sort and filter documents received from their own clients or from their opponents - is just as relevant to their clients.

I can help with:

Short-term Disclosure

Urgent calls for assistance in the face of Disclosure requests under the UK or US court rules
Liaison with your solicitors as to the efficient transfer of your documents to them
Identification of data and document sources which are or may be the subject of a litigation hold
Helping with the identification of documents which are or may be subject to privilege, data protection or other constraints or jurisdictional issues.

Longer-term planning

Recommending, devising and implementing a litigation readiness policy
Working with you on a document retention policy
Training and education in eDisclosure skills and practices, in litigation readiness, litigation holds and document retention.

This is not to be seen as trespassing on the lawyers' territory. The purpose is cost-effective co-operation with them rather than overlap or duplication. The aim is not to supplant their judgment e.g. as to privilege but to identify those which are potentially privileged.

These services reflect that fact that preparation for litigation generally is now as important as preparation for any particular litigation. It reflects the fact also that time-scales are now much shorter than they used to be and the more which can be done in house in advance of actual litigation, the better.

Looked at in this light, many of my litigation support services are as applicable to corporate clients as they are to their lawyers.

You may want to see my articles relevant to Disclosure, document retention and litigation readiness.

Chris Dale Lawyer Support	Blog Services Biography Contact Home